With the advent of general access computer networks, such as the Internet, people may now easily exchange data between computer systems. Unfortunately, some people have taken advantage of such easy data exchange by developing various threats, such as viruses, and accessing data for which such people are unauthorized.
One exemplary environment where such problem is particularly exacerbated includes peer-to-peer networks. Peer-to-peer networks are a reflection of the real world, especially when it comes to trust. One does not necessarily trust everyone with whom he/she interacts, and different levels of trust exist. Hence, some nodes in a peer-to-peer network may be malicious, and there may be scenarios in which one would like to black list such a node to safeguard other nodes and the network in general.
Black listing nodes helps prevents the following scenarios (as well as many other scenarios):                1) Sharing of data and/or code that is malicious (e.g. where the data and/or code is not the same as that originally represented, etc.);        2) Spreading of viruses, worms, malware, shareware, and/or any program which is not desirable per policy; and        3) Attacks such as a denial-of-service (DoS) from within a network.        
Of course, the foregoing benefits are contingent on the fact that malicious nodes are first black listed properly. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to identify appropriate nodes for black listing purposes. There is thus a need for overcoming these and/or other problems associated with the prior art.